Power to name new N.C. Ports Authority chief disputed

The question stems from legislation that shifted the ports from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Transportation.

By Adam WagnerAdam.Wagner@StarNewsOnline.com

The question of who has the power to name the executive director of the N.C. Ports Authority loomed Thursday even as the organization’s board discussed several other topics.During a meeting of the board’s governance and compensation committee, the committee’s chairman took the opportunity to again outline his stance that the board ultimately holds the power, even in the wake of 2011 legislation that shifted the ports from the Department of Commerce to the Department of Transportation.“This dispute needs to be resolved,” said George Rountree, who was careful to emphasize that he has a strong working relationship with Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata.Rountree, a Wilmington attorney, added that specific legislation overrides general laws in North Carolina and that he believes the legislation specifically keeps the power of naming an executive director in the hands of the board.Members of the board consulted with Troy Smith, a New Bern lawyer who is an expert in transactional affairs, about the matter. Smith concluded that the power to hire and fire a director should have remained in the hands of the board.Rountree said Smith’s opinion aligns directly with that of Dennis Myers, the attorney for ex-ports CEO Tom Eagar who is suing the DOT, ex-Secretary Gene Conti and the Ports Authority for lost pay because he contends that he was never fired.When the lawsuit was brought up during Thursday’s committee meeting, Danny McComas, the board’s chairman, said, “This board did not fire (Eagar).”The board also had some questions to ask of Pat McCrory’s office, as the governor is the final person who needs to agree to allow the organization to seek outside counsel on complicated transactional matters.McComas said the board would “be derelict in (its) responsibilities to the people of North Carolina” if it did not seek outside counsel.Tata has already agreed to allow the board to seek counsel if the matter requires specialization that Matt Woodward, the special deputy attorney general assigned to the ports, does not have.Rountree also brought up the possibility of forming a risk committee to assess possible upcoming challenges to business.“A corporate enterprise in the commercial world has got to consider risks. One of our risks is storms. ... The other risk which I’m trying to identify is the loss of a particular line of service producing significant revenue,” he said.One such risk came in January, when International Paper responded to a slowdown in global demand by shutting down a paper machine.McComas said the ports authority was lucky that machine was in Augusta, Ga., instead of in Riegelwood, N.C.In the only decision it reached Thursday, the board voted unanimously to begin exploring director and officer liability insurance to protect itself in case of an incident at one of its facilities.